The 11th commandment

A few weeks back,me and my friends were travelling by the Delhi Metro...we were 3 guys and fortunately all of us had managed to get seats;the train was getting very crowded and I was smug in my seat.Hardcore Kolkatans that we are,it was quite a change,and a refreshing one for me, to see that there were no seats reserved for women.In kolkata,seats are reserved for "ladies" everywhere!!On the bus,on the metro,on trains.............
However,one of my friends took great offence at the fact that "a lady" was standing in front of us while we all sat.He got up to offer his seat...A man rushed over and sat down in a flash.He then forced our other friend to do the same.The same outcome,again!
Now the only seat left for the "lady" to take was mine...there was only a slight hitch-I refused to get up.My pal tried to convince me on grounds of morality and "the right thing to do" with insightful arguments like "Dhrubo,a lady is standing..how can you sit?"...He tried every trick in the book to compel me to get up,but me,prude that I am,never did...the lady got off the train at the next station.

I had almost forgotten about the incident till "Quaint Murmur" aroused my memory...and I must say that though I love my city,I despise situations where people get advantage because of the way they are born.It was about 7 years ago that I realized that chauvinism works both ways and while my psycho-therapist(yes,I am a nut-case!)doesn't think so,the "chauvinist pigs" come in both genders!
All my life I have been puzzled by the visible lack of uniforming in matters of public sphere when it comes to men and women.Men are always expected to give up stuff so that the women can get an easy ride.And what surprises me is the fact that so many women take the advantage,nay,grab it with both hands and behave as if it was their god gifted right.No one ever questions why,on a bus,men have a greater duty to remain standing while women are predisposed to relax.
Maybe I am exuding the perception of being a misogynist and some sort of an "anti-feminist" but that is not the case...I stand up for issues where I think people are getting discriminated against but what about situations where people talk about discrimination to actually discriminate against others?
I am not a feminist.I don't think men should take over the world either.I just am of the opinion that this social compulsion of men having to be "chivalrous" towards women is redundant.Let the era of men offering small bits of favour to women be banished now.Let the world where a condescending attitude of "they need it,helpless souls" ,hid under a garb of nobility,is not tolerated any longer.
I do not dream of a perfect world...I just wish that we live in a world where there was a little less dichotomy...where people are allowed opportunities when they deserve it.

The day I love to hate

I am supposed to study now...but it is very evident that I am not!I am much too euphoric and not because of the reasons an adoloscent guy is usually happy on the night of Valentine.I am happy cuz I have survived another year without falling into the dating quagmire...Does it seem cynical?Well,it is!!

I don't know from where I picked up this unrelenting cynicism about the present concept of dating but then as far and as long as I can remember,it has been this way.I havealways hated books which talk about the next step after people become friends...books which place flings at an emotional scale higher than friendship and bonding.For that simple reason,I find myself at odds with celebrated pieces of literature like "Five Point Someone".But it is not as if I am against love.I am not a misogynist.I am a sucker for "Romance "movies.I even like films like "Shakespeare in love" or saccharine sweet "Notting Hill"....

Contradiction?I used to think so too....

Not anymore though.Its the society which is hypocritical,not me...atleast I think so.Yes,I have got a problem with people hooking up just because its the "in" thing.But I have a greater problem with the society which accepts and actively promotes such kind of behaviour under the garb of tomfoolery like "guys will be guys" and "there is no place for love".

I have a problem with people who rave and rant about the piety of love and the divinity of the affair and then go buy Archies cards to profess their "divine" life.Who are so enamoured with the notion of "Hindi film romance" that they talk of lynching their lives just because someone has decided to move on with their life.I have a problem with a society which behaves with sickening morality when it comes to accepting homosexuality but bends over backwards in order to accomodate Greeting Card Day!A society which bars two men from looking at each other but has no problem with lewdness as long as it is perpetrated by a guy and a girl.

I might not fall in love.Not today.Not tomorrow.Maybe never.But if love exists in the form that I see it all around me...I am glad to be alone.It isn't love that I have a problem with,its what we have made out of it!!

Round the bend

Walking down the road with a friend,
I suddenly come across a bend...
I turn and don't find him there-
Searched for him everywhere,nowhere could I find;
Was he true,did he pretend...
Leaving me stranded on that bend?

We were so happy chatting.
Walking among the leaves cheerfully-
Perhaps life's like this,
The person you want the most
is the one you miss!

Maybe its a big journey,
You walk over and over again...
Be it shine or rain,
smiles or pain-

Every morning a new destiny,
YOU walk the stretch alone,
Yes you'll find friends...
Who'll disappear round the bend!

Smiles and memories,
The good time and the tears,
Yes,you'll share...
But you will leave it with the dust and walk ahead!

Tomorrow is a new day-
A different way!
A new pal to take you away...
To soar,to fly.....to spread yuour wings in the bright blue sky!!

And that is all I learnt,
while I stood stranded on bend...
Waiting for my new best friend!